Resident Emo
by The Medic
Summary: [AU] Sora was getting pretty good at handling strange news. Riku being in love with him? Check. Roxas dating a gay vampire? Check. But a sinister undead plot to destroy the city? …That was definitely pushing it. [SoRiku, AkuRoku, Cleon]
1. Sora: Master Detective

**Chapter One  
****Sora: Master Detective**

The redhead in the corner was staring at him.

He was seated at the bar on a tall wooden stool with a red cushion, body angled slightly toward the booth where Sora and Riku were sitting, looking a bit out of place in a long black leather coat, low-riding black pants tucked into a pair of military boots, and a tight black v-neck shirt. To be honest, Sora had stared at him for a while after they'd walked in, but it wasn't anything like _this_. The redhead was just _looking_ at him, bright green eyes never straying, not even when he picked up his glass and held it to his lips to take a sip.

It was pretty creepy, actually. Sora felt distinctly uncomfortable, and he scooted closer to Riku, their knees bumping as he hunched his shoulders and tried to ignore the prickly feeling on the back of his neck.

"You okay?" the silver-haired boy asked, giving Sora a concerned look.

"Yeah." He internally winced at the lie and took a drink of his soda to cover it. "I don't know why Roxas always tells me not to come here."

_I'll bet it's because of the scary ass redheads lurking in the corners_, he thought to himself.

Shrugging, Riku swirled a french fry in some ketchup on his plate and looked contemplative. "He probably doesn't want you anywhere near alcohol," he guessed with a nod toward the bar.

"Hey!" Sora bristled. "What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

Riku hid a smile and popped the french fry into his mouth. "Nothing."

"Hmph," Sora said and pretended to be horribly offended, crossing his arms over his chest and turning his head to the side with a pout. Of course, turning his head meant looking right at that guy in the corner, and he nearly jumped out of his seat when he realized that the stranger had paid his bar tab and was sliding off his stool.

"What is it?" Riku asked.

"Um." If possible, he scooted even closer to Riku, their thighs now touching, and ducked his head to whisper frantically into the shell of Riku's ear, "That guy has been watching me all night, and now I think he's coming over here."

Indeed, the stranger was walking over to their table, grinning a bit drunkenly as he did so. He stopped with his fingertips on the table, leaning down to peer closely at Sora's face.

"Can we help you?" Riku asked bluntly, half-scowling.

Axel promptly ignored him, still grinning at the slim brunet. "How ya doin', Sora?"

Sora visibly balked. "Do… Do I know you?" he stuttered eventually.

"Not exactly," laughed the other man, finally pulling back to give Sora a bit of space. "I know _you_, though."

Riku looked about ready to punch him. "Okay, buddy, you're getting kinda creepy. Are you gonna back off or what?"

"Er." The redhead actually had the nerve to look contrite. He held up his hands and waved them around defensively, shaking his head. "Sorry, that must have sounded pretty weird. Let me try again. I'm Axel," he said, pointing to himself. At Sora and Riku's blank faces, he continued, "Uh, you know. Roxas's boyfriend?"

"Roxas doesn't _have_ a boyfriend," Riku pointed out with a glare.

Axel's face fell. "What?"

"Yeah," Sora said, growing increasingly more freaked out by the minute. "Roxas has been single for like, three years. He won't even _look_ at girls." He paused with a squint at the redhead. "Or boys, for that matter."

Furrowing his eyebrows, Axel seemed to take this into consideration. His expression perked as he leaned in closer to Sora with a quirky grin on his face. "So, he hasn't looked at _anyone, _then? For three years?"

_"No," _Sora insisted as his back pressed against Riku's shoulder. "No one."

"Well, I guess _that's _at least good news." Relief showed in his emerald eyes. "So, what," he said with a small twitch of his mouth, eyes darting down to take in the way they were pressed up against one another, "are you two on a date or something?"

Sora stared blankly. Riku glanced at the brunet, then turned back to Axel and hastily answered, "No, we're not. We were just up late studying and this is the only place open after eleven that serves food." In his nervousness, he found himself detailing to Axel their upcoming midterm in calculus. Surprisingly enough, Axel listened to the silver-haired boy intently from start to end.

"So, then," he said once Riku had finished, "it's _not _a date?"

Riku sighed exasperatedly. "No, it's not."

"So, if I asked Sora out on a—"

"Axel."

That one word froze the redhead mid-smile as a tall blond stalked toward him.

As the two boys in the booth looked up and Sora fell back even more against Riku, and in the response, the silver-haired boys hand gripped Sora's shoulder securely. The unnamed blond stopped menacingly behind Axel, and both Riku and Sora felt an icy chill sweep over them.

"Cloud," Axel muttered as he spun around and slapped a lopsided grin on his face. "'Sup?"

"What are you doing?" he asked stonily.

"Talking to Roxas's friends."

Cloud eyed Axel warily, then folded his arms over his chest, fingers drumming lightly against his upper arm. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"It's a great idea," Axel boasted with a razorblade smile, just before he did a double-take. "Wait a minute. What are _you_ doing here? Don't you live…?" He glanced over his shoulder at Riku and Sora and frowned, looking like he wanted to say something he couldn't. His head swiveled back to Cloud. "I mean, shouldn't you be…? Is everything…?"

"We should talk somewhere else," said Cloud.

Riku could see Axel's eyes widen just a fraction, and he took this opportunity to tighten his grip on Sora's shoulder and say, "You can talk here. We were just leaving."

"But Riku," Sora whined and looked down forlornly at the remainder of his grilled cheese sandwich and french fries.

Riku pushed him forward lightly. "Come on, Sora." Then he dropped his voice to a near-inaudible whisper and added, "_You_ were the one freaking out because he was staring at you. Do you really want to stick around with these guys?"

There was a snort above them, and Sora looked up to see Axel and Cloud frowning at them. He forced a nervous laugh and slid out of his chair. "Um, we'll see you later."

"Or never," Riku muttered under his breath, steering Sora toward the door.

Behind them, Axel cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled to Riku as they made their way across the pub, "Or really soon, since I'm dating your boyfriend's half-brother!"

Ignoring Sora's stumble and Axel's unlikely good hearing, Riku practically sprinted with Sora all the way back to the campus dormitory.

Sora debated the ethicality of what he was about to do. Searching Roxas's dorm room – although it was the dorm room that they _shared – _seemed a little on the shady side. He was only doing it for Roxas's benefit, however, in order to determine the importance of 'psycho stalker redhead' as he had so kindly deemed him.

He also neglected to mention his plan to Riku.

"I'll see you later," Riku said softly so as not to disturb the other occupants of the floor. "Call me in the morning?"

Sora nodded, sending his brown spikes sweeping across his eyes. Before Sora could brush them out of his face, Riku did it for him, fingers delicately pushing his bangs behind his ear. Sora filled the split second of awkward silence with, "Okay."

Riku gave him a little nod and stuffed his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. "Later."

And with that, Sora disappeared into his room, quietly shutting the door behind him. He felt somewhat sorry for Riku, who still had the ten minute walk to his apartment in front of him, but the silver-haired boy had insisted on walking him to his room. Like there was anything dangerous nearby.

The town was so small that it scarcely took ten minutes to drive through the entire thing. Its population consisted almost entirely of college students and professors, and the remainder worked in the surrounding motley of convenience stores and restaurants. There honestly wasn't much to do there for anyone except students, which Riku, Sora, and his half-brother Roxas all were.

And in such a tiny town, Sora found it odd that he'd never seen that redhead before… or at least he thought he hadn't. Now that he thought about it, he _did_ look kinda familiar.

He shook himself out of his thoughts and shuffled forward toward Roxas's side of the room, feeling somewhat guilty as he reached forward and tugged open his top desk drawer. Peering inside, he saw a typical collection of pens, pencils, erasers, and loose staples and heaved a little mixed sigh of relief and disappointment.

On one hand, he was glad there wasn't anything indicative that Axel actually _was_ Roxas's boyfriend, but on the other hand, he was growing increasingly concerned for his half-brother's safety. If crazed men in pubs past midnight were claiming to date him, then Roxas was probably in trouble.

"Okay, next drawer," he mumbled to himself, then mentally gave himself a swift kick in the head, because he was on a covert operation, dammit, and he wasn't supposed to give himself away by talking out loud.

_Good thing Roxas is never home at night_, he thought as he pulled open the second drawer, where his gaze immediately zoomed in on a pile of photographs. He picked them up with care and began curiously sifting through.

Each one was an off-center photo of Roxas, _just_ Roxas, smiling and waving at the camera while looking incredibly happy. Somewhat puzzled by the odd assortment of pictures, he replaced them in the drawer and continued shuffling around. Underneath the photos was a stack of plain white computer paper, which Sora idly pushed aside. He was just about to close the drawer when he saw a colored drawing at the bottom of the pile.

"Huh?" He pulled it out and his eyes immediately widened. It was a portrait-style drawing of Roxas, in the same pose as the top photo, but in the empty space next to him stood a very familiar redhead.

"Holy crap," Sora said, holding the drawing up to his face and staring. Axel's hand was on Roxas's shoulder in a way that could have either been friendly or romantic, but Sora was betting on romantic. He couldn't believe it. Why hadn't Roxas _said_ anything?

Maybe it was a new thing, he told himself. Yeah, that was definitely it. It was a new thing, and Roxas was afraid to tell him he was gay – which was _stupid_, but Roxas _was_ only his half-brother, so it was understandable, at least. But still… what if they'd been together longer?

Sora worried his lower lip in between his teeth, glancing down at the photograph on the top of the pile again. Roxas looked younger, and he was wearing an old thalassa shell necklace he'd bought at some surf shop years ago. He'd lost it about two years ago.

_Well, hell_, Sora thought, carefully replacing everything in the drawer just the way he'd found it. His half-brother was dating another boy – no, not even a _boy_, because he'd looked almost _thirty_, and _holy shit_, Roxas was dating a pedophile!

He had to save him!

Sora had just shoved the drawer closed and was striding across the room to grab his cell phone and call Riku to share the news when the doorknob began to turn.

"Eep," Sora squeaked and dove into his computer chair, hurriedly turning on his laptop in an attempt to look busy.

"Hey, Sora," Roxas greeted tiredly as he trudged into the room, dressed in plain khakis and a white polo, dragging a giant festive sombrero behind him. He worked at a nearby Mexican restaurant, and it was part of his uniform. Sora was convinced that Roxas secretly liked wearing the sombrero, even though he bitched about it almost constantly.

"You're home late," Sora commented as casually as possible. Which wasn't casually at all, because Roxas was never home at night…which made him think about Axel all over again, and his new mission to save his poor victimized half-brother. Or so he told himself.

"You mean early," Roxas said with a quizzical look. "I haven't been home this early in months."

Sora laughed nervously. "Oh, really? I hadn't noticed."

Roxas's expression turned into a frown. "What kind of brother _are_ you?"

"The concerned type!" Defensively, he rose from his chair and put his hands on his hips in an authoritative style. "You didn't walk home by yourself, did you? You should use the buddy system!"

"Uh." The blond could only stare. "What?"

"Yeah," Sora said heatedly, glad to finally have a topic to cover his lingering anxiety. "I heard about this girl scout who got struck by lightning because she didn't use the buddy system."

"…That doesn't even make sense," Roxas mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck.

"It totally does," he said with a nod of his head. "So use the buddy system next time, or you'll get struck by lightning!"

"Whatever, Sora." Roxas finally cracked a grin. "You're crazy, you know that?"

_I'm not the one dating a crazy old man_, Sora thought to himself. _A perverted, crazy, pedophile of an old man_. But what he said was, "Yep, I know."

"Good." Tossing his sombrero atop of a pile of dirty laundry in the corner, Roxas's grin faded into a scowl as he muttered, "Fucking sombrero."

"Hey, it never did anything to you."

"It exists," Roxas huffed. "And I have to wear it to that godforsaken hell hole everyday." He whirled to face Sora, bristling with anger. "Did you know I had to stay after for _three_ hours today?"

"What?" Sora balked. "Why? That's not fair!"

"Tell me about it," Roxas bit out. "All because they just _had_ to shampoo the carpets. And then my stupid friend canceled our plans, so now I'm stuck here doing homework for the night."

"Who's your friend, anyway?" Sora asked as discreetly as possible. He folded his arms behind his head and fell back into his chair, slumping bonelessly against it.

"You wouldn't know him."

Sora raised an eyebrow at Roxas's suspiciously quick dismissal. "Actually," he said thoughtfully, "I haven't met a _lot_ of your friends."

"They're not your kind of people," Roxas said, sounding somewhat annoyed now, and sat down in his chair. He went to open his top desk drawer and Sora froze, hoping he'd remembered to put everything back in its proper place. Thankfully, Roxas didn't seem to notice anything, and he grabbed a pencil and shut the drawer without saying another word.

"Are they older?" Sora asked innocently.

Across the room, Roxas's eye twitched tensely. "What's it matter?"

_I'll take that as a yes_, Sora thought smugly. _Sora: Master Detective and Pedophile Destroyer Extraordinaire. _"I guess it doesn't," he said with what he hoped was a relaxed shrug. He was careful to sound as nonchalant as possible with his next question: "By the way, you wouldn't happen to know any redheads, would you?"

Roxas actually fell sideways out of his chair. He landed in a sideways heap on the floor, looking wild and hunted for a moment before he propped his head up on his fist, the other hand resting casually on his hip, struggling to look suave and composed as he responded, "Redheads? What do you mean? Like, Kairi redhead? Natural redhead? Or what?"

_Frazzled, much_? "I mean like, _red_ redhead. Like my shirt." He pointed to his crimson top.

"Nope, not a one," Roxas chirped.

_You are a _liar! Sora thought furiously.

"Oh," Sora hummed and leaned back further in his chair. Behind his head, he wrung his hands in annoyance at Roxas's obvious lies. "You know, that's kinda funny, 'cause there was a guy at the pub tonight—"

"The pub?" Roxas interjected and leapt to his feet. "The pub I told you to _never go in_?"

"Yep."

"Why'd you go _there_?"

"Only place open past midnight other than Starbucks," Sora explained. "Riku and I were studying for our calc exam and we were hungry. Coffee makes my stomach hurt."

Covering his face with his hand, Roxas took a deep breath and asked, "Did he happen to say what his name was?"

"Axel."

Roxas peeked out from between two fingers with a pained expression. "Did he say anything _else_?"

"Ohhh, not much." Happy that he was getting somewhere, Sora looked up at Roxas and grinned. "Only that you were dating."

"He was just joking," Roxas rushed to explain. "Seriously. He pulls that shit all the time. It's like a retarded game he plays."

Glancing behind Roxas, Sora pulled a thoughtful face and asked, "So those pictures in your desk…?"

"_You went through my desk_?" Roxas shrieked and practically dove on top of Sora, grabbing him by his hair and putting him in a gruesome headlock. "I will fucking _kill_ you!"

"Ow!" Sora whined and batted at him uselessly. "Lemme go, I was just trying to save you from the creepy pedophile!"

"Creepy – creepy _pedophile_?" the blond sputtered. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Axel!" Prying his half-brother off while he could, Sora rolled away and backed up against the door. "He looks like he's thirty or something!"

"He's definitely _not_ thirty," Roxas said, still looking murderous, and stalked closer to the brunet. "And you had _no _business looking through my stuff. What exactly did you see?"

"Some really bad pictures of you," Sora squeaked, then practically squished himself against the door as Roxas's glare intensified. "I meant badly taken, badly taken! You looked great in them, you were practically glowing! Please don't kill me!"

"That's not what I'm pissed about," Roxas grunted.

"Oh." He relaxed a little. "Well, that's all I saw. That and a drawing of you and Axel."

Roxas seemed to relax too. "That's it?"

"Yeah." Cautiously looking up at Roxas again, he asked, "So are you guys _really_ just friends?"

He nodded. "Just friends."

Somehow, Sora didn't quite believe him, but Roxas obviously didn't want him to know any more than he already did. "Okay."

Roxas smacked him on the back of the head. "But don't you _ever_ go through my shit again, you got that?"

"Oww." Rubbing the back of his head, Sora was the absolute picture of contrition, and he stuck out his lower lip in a pout. "Okay, I'm sorry."

"…It's fine," Roxas said eventually, then sauntered over to his bed and flopped himself down on his back, staring up at their blank white ceiling. "So… did he say where he was going?"

"Huh?" Sora scuttled to his dresser and pulled out his pajamas, only half-thinking of an answer to Roxas's question. He wrestled with his ridiculously tricky belt, then dropped his jeans to the floor and neatly folded them atop his dresser. Then he held up his pajamas and gave them a tentative sniff just to make sure they were clean. He had the tendency to fold all of his clothing, clean or not, and place them on top of his dresser, so a pair of dirty sleeping clothes easily could have gotten misplaced inside the drawer.

"Sora, did you hear me?" Roxas snapped his fingers to get his brother's attention. "Did Axel say where he was going?"

"Um, I don't know. When we left he was with some blond guy."

"Blond… a _blond_ guy?" Roxas stuttered, then quickly recovered with, "A friend of his, then?"

Sora shrugged as he pulled his pajama pants on – they were his favorites, white and blue striped flannel – and replied, "I guess so. He seemed to know him."

"What did this blond guy look like?"

"Why do you care?" Sora spat back in annoyance as he tied the drawstrings on his pants. In the back of his mind, he _knew _it was a bad idea to tie them, since he always had trouble unknotting it as he rushed to the bathroom in the morning. At the moment, however, he couldn't really bring himself to care. His brotherly spidey-sense was telling him that Roxas was jealous, and he absolutely _despised _being lied to.

Roxas didn't seem to notice the tone in Sora's voice. "I'm curious who it is."

"Blond guy," he repeated, then paused to think. "_Spiky_-headed blond guy, with scary blue eyes, and sort of pale, and… military… ish?" he crinkled his nose in thought as he tried to describe Cloud as best he could. "Oh yeah," he added as he smacked the palm of his hand against the side of his head. "His name is Cloud."

Roxas's face faltered, although Sora couldn't see it from across the room. "Cloud, huh?"

"Yeah," Sora said, turning to look at his brother with interest. "You know him?"

Roxas smirked as he let his eyes close. "You could say that..."


	2. The Man With a Plan

**Chapter Two  
****The Man With a Plan**

"I have a plan," Sora said with considerably more enthusiasm than Riku could have prepared himself for.

Of _course_ Sora had a plan; he always did. Much to Riku's dismay, Sora having a plantypically meant only Sora would benefit from whatever harebrained scheme the brunet came up with while everybody around him suffered from massive amounts of brain trauma, food poisoning, or frostbite. The frostbite had occurred during Sora's most recent brilliant idea to rescue the nearby population of crickets. In the middle of winter.

_I hate crickets, _Riku thought to himself as he eyed Sora from across the table. He took a sip of his coffee, wincing as it scalded his tongue. _And I hate Sora's plans._

"So, I'll be needing your help—"

"No."

Sora tried to remain optimistic, which was difficult considering the last time Riku had helped him resulted in a trip to the emergency room because Riku had fallen into a pond. In the winter. With the crickets. "See, I learned something about Roxas last night," Sora pressed on. "Turns out that he knows that guy Axel and is quite possibly dating him."

Riku didn't seem interested in the least. "I'm still listening, but that doesn't mean I'm going to help you," he said firmly.

"C'mon, Riku, we've gotta save Roxas! That guy is _way _older than him!" he insisted, although thirty wasn't _really _that much older, especially since Roxas was twenty-one, almost twenty-two. That was beside the point, Sora convinced himself, and he needed saving whether he thought so or not.

"They've been dating for a while, I'm pretty sure. Roxas is always gone at night, so my assumption is that's when they secretly meet. I'll need your help to follow him to Axel's secret lair and then we can bust in and rescue Roxas from the clutches of evil!"

Arching an eyebrow, Riku forced down a wave of amusement and asked, "Clutches of evil? _Secret lair_? What do you think this guy is, a vampire?"

"I can't rule out the possibility," Sora said seriously.

Riku choked a little. "Are you for real?"

"Well, yeah."

"Sora, this is _crazy_," Riku said, setting aside his coffee mug to lean forward and give the brunet a stern stare. "So Roxas has a boyfriend. Big deal."

"But it's an _older_ boyfriend, and he didn't _tell_ me!" Wringing his hands together, Sora focused the most pathetic look possible on Riku's face.

The silver-haired boy sighed. "Of course he didn't. If you were dating a boy, would _you_ tell _him_?"

"Of course I would!"

With a dubious little smirk, Riku picked up his mug again and held it to his lips. "Whatever you say," he murmured and took a sip.

"Hmph." Crossing his arms, Sora hunched down in Riku's kitchen chair and sulked spectacularly.

"You don't have a problem with it, do you?"

"With what?" Sora grumbled, attempting to look as grumpy as possible. It wasn't really working. He kept getting distracted, his eyes straying to the video game consoles in the living room and the comfy blue couch he wished they were sitting on, because it was freaking _hard_ to throw a hissy fit on a wooden chair. Literally.

"With Roxas being gay," Riku said quietly.

"_What_?" Tearing his attention away from the next room, his gaze zeroed in on Riku's face, which looked oddly vulnerable and soft. "No! Why _would_ I?"

"Because you seem to be taking this a little hard."

"Well, who wouldn't?" He sniffed defiantly and looked away again. "I mean, he's my _brother_. He should _tell_ me these things!"

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to come out to someone?" Riku asked, growing irritated. "_Especially_ the people you care about most?"

"Well, no," Sora mumbled, beginning to falter. "It doesn't _seem_ that hard. You just _say_ it."

"It _is_," Riku growled and stood up, slamming his coffee mug down on the table. It cracked down the center, a small, spider web-like line that snaked jaggedly all the way from the top to the bottom. "You couldn't possibly understand."

Sora stared. "Are you trying to say I'm stupid?"

"No, that's not it." Sighing, Riku closed his eyes and put one hand to his forehead in exasperation. "What I'm _trying_ to say is…"

And then coffee started leaking out of the crack and Sora yelped, jumping up to grab napkins, and Riku swore loudly as he rushed to help.

"I'm sorry," Sora said automatically, used to apologizing for every mishap in Riku's apartment, since he was usually at fault.

Riku gave him a strange look, taking a proffered napkin from Sora's hand and calmly mopping up the coffee. "You didn't do anything wrong."

"Oh." Laughing meekly, the brunet finished cleaning up the spill and tossed his dirty napkins in the trash before taking Riku's broken coffee mug and holding it up for inspection. "Did you wanna save this? We could probably fix it."

"Nah," Riku said, placing his hand over the mug, his fingers overlapping with Sora's. "It was cheap. I can just buy another one."

"Okay." With a megawatt smile, Sora dropped the broken coffee mug into the trash and turned back to his friend. "So, what were you going to tell me?"

Riku's expression closed off, and he looked down at his feet, suddenly transfixed with his black and white checkered Vans. He cleared his throat. "I know," he eventually muttered.

Blinking, Sora cocked his head to the side and asked, "You know what?"

"How hard it is."

_Errr_, Sora thought, his brain screeching to an abrupt halt. _What_?

"Errr, what?" Sora's words echoed his thoughts.

"I know how hard it is to come out to someone close to you," Riku said again, his face clearing, looking immensely relieved, like a weight had been lifted. "I'm doing it right now, in case you hadn't caught on yet."

For a while, Sora could only stare. His best friend since elementary school, the one person with whom he could share anything, was gay. He could only think of one thing to say:

"Does _nobody_ tell me _anything_?" he shrieked.

Apparently, that was not the reaction Riku had been expecting, because he blinked rapidly and hesitantly took a step forward. "You don't care?"

"Did I care about _Roxas_?"

"Um." Riku gave him a look. "Yeah. You've kind of been making a big deal out of it for the past—" he paused to check his watch "—half hour or so."

"Oh," Sora said, suddenly meek. "Oops."

"Yeah." Scratching the side of his neck, Riku continued, "Also, there's one other thing I should tell you."

_Well, nothing could be more surprising than that_, Sora thought, then grinned cheerfully, swinging his arms. "What is it?"

Riku let out a deep breath. "I have this really retarded crush on you, and it won't go away, and I'm really sorry." The second the words were out of his mouth, a scared look entered his eyes, and he swiveled his head to the side awkwardly. "So there it is. That's all."

"Uh," Sora said, nearly choking on his shock, and grabbed the back of a kitchen chair to steady himself. "I've, uh…gotta go stalk Roxas now," he uttered faintly. "I'll call you later."

And before Riku could even raise his hand to wave goodbye, Sora tore out of the room and down the stairs.

-

Stalking people was stupid. It was hard, _really _hard, harder than Sora had expected. First, he had to find out where the hell his target was without asking him directly, because that would have been too suspicious, and he had checked every single typical college hangout before finally discovering Roxas at a vending machine in the history building. As a detective movie afficionado, Sora was well aware that he not only had to _act _the part but he also had to _dress _the part – of being a detective, that is, because he wasn't _crazy _stalking Roxas, he was _investigatively _stalking him. It was all for his brother's benefit, he assured himself.

And so Sora had gone about digging through Roxas's clothes, being that he himself didn't own anything black, and had managed to find black slacks and a black turtleneck. He thanked the heavens that the temperature was cool enough that he wasn't sweating. Even with a school cap on, he found himself being stopped by classmates who were curious as to what he was doing. Stalking Roxas was becoming trickier by the second.

Much to Sora's relief, Roxas finally chose a candy bar and exited the history building, heading toward Seventh Heaven, the pub where he and Riku had met Axel the night before. Being outside made it much easier to follow Roxas since the sun had set hours before and even with the streetlights, Sora had little trouble finding cover in the shadows. As Roxas entered the pub, he looked back, and Sora casually leaned against a lamp post, staring off in the opposite direction of Roxas.

_This is the worst hiding spot ever_, he thought to himself. But a moment later he heard the door shut and he relaxed, seeing that Roxas had gone inside. He walked over to the entrance, hand resting on the metal door handle, then came to the immediate dilemma of how he was going to remain unseen inside the small pub.

Before he could devise a proper plan, the door flew open and nailed him in the face, pushing him back and effectively hiding him as he heard two people leave the pub, one person stomping and yelling while the other followed. The door slowly swung back closed and Sora rubbed his nose, which hurt like hell, and watched the retreating figures of Roxas and Axel as the redhead followed Roxas into the alleyway just to the left of the pub.

_I knew he was meeting Axel! _Sora smiled triumphantly as he followed, staying a significant distance back to avoid detection. He peered around the corner where Roxas and Axel had disappeared and barely managed to muffle his choke of surprise when he saw Axel grabbing Roxas by the hood of his black jacket, jerking him backward and into the wall. Roxas's head cracked against the brick and he cried out in pain, gritting his teeth angrily as he gingerly held his fingers to the back of his head, growling when they came away tinged with blood.

"Axel," he hissed, "what the fuck was that? I'm _bleeding_!"

"That was kinda the point," Axel said with an exaggerated grin, his eyes flashing briefly in Sora's direction. Sora shrank back, fearing for a moment that he'd been discovered, but Axel merely ducked his head to lick Roxas's bloody fingers as he lowered his hand.

_That was close_, Sora thought, wrinkling his nose at the way Axel had licked the blood from Roxas's fingers. _Gross. Why is Roxas dating a sicko like that_?

Roxas didn't seem to think it was gross. He was smirking and flicking his fingertips suggestively, but he still had a hint of a glare in his eyes, obviously still somewhat annoyed as evidenced by his next sentence: "We're _not_ playing this game tonight, Axel."

"It's not a game," Axel murmured, trapping him against the wall with his body, one hand pressed against Roxas's chest as he unzipped the blond's jacket with the other. "I'm hungry."

"Then we're not doing this in public," Roxas complained, pushing at Axel's shoulders with both hands. "Someone could _see_ us."

"Which is why I'm doing it." Grinning, Axel slid off Roxas's jacket, laughing when the blond docilely let the piece of clothing drop to the ground. "I thought you had a problem with this?"

"I do," Roxas said, still glaring, "but there's no point in arguing with you since you're obviously just going to do it anyway."

"Ooh, he's learning!" Looking ultimately pleased with himself, Axel slipped a hand underneath Roxas's screened band shirt. With a yelp, Roxas grabbed his hand and tugged it away.

"Stop that, you're cold!"

"Like that's anything new," the redhead leered.

_Oh my god_, Sora realized. _I'm watching my brother get molested and I'm not even doing anything! I'm a horrible person!_

"Shut up and help me," Roxas muttered with an irritable look, reaching for the bottom of his shirt to tug it off over his head. Axel smirked and grabbed the material, pulling it over Roxas's blond hair for him, and tossed it onto the steps near Sora.

_Eep_! Sora ducked back behind the brick wall for a moment, hoping neither one had looked to follow the shirt's trajectory. He waited a few minutes until he thought it was safe and risked another glance down the alleyway.

Axel had Roxas completely pinned against the wall, and Sora noted with a wave of shock that he was _completely off the ground_, his legs wrapped around Axel's torso. The taller man's head was ducked against Roxas's collar bone, and Roxas's expression was…

Sora quickly found somewhere else to look. At Axel's shoes, to be exact. His boots were covered in mud now, the laces only half-way done

_That's a look I never want to see on my brother's face again_,he mentally told himself once he'd recovered enough to form coherent thoughts. Ever_ again_.

When he finally mustered the courage to look back up, Axel's hands were at Roxas's studded black belt, and Sora was just about to turn around and leave to get help when the tones of the old school Batman theme erupted from his back pocket.

"Shit," he swore and reached for it, frantically trying to turn it off by answering it and hitting the end button as quickly as possible. Riku's picture flashed on the front screen along with his name, and Sora momentarily felt bad for hanging up on him, but it had to be done. His cover was blown, and he needed to get _far away_ before either of them could see him. He glanced up to see if Roxas and Axel had noticed anything.

He very nearly crapped his pants when he saw nothing more than green eyes and a flash of teeth before he had the good sense to stumble backward, staring at Axel standing mere inches away and looking smug.

"Hey there, Sora," the redhead purred, trapping him against the brick wall the way he'd done with Sora's brother.

_How did he get here so fast_? Sora thought frantically. _Did I really take that long to ignore Riku's call_?

"A-Axel," he stuttered, valiantly willing himself not to pee. "How are you?"

"I'd probably be feeling a lot better if you hadn't interrupted us." He grinned, then leaned forward to whisper, "You could have just kept watching, you know."

Sora squeaked. Behind Axel, Roxas was cussing loudly and stomping around the alley as he assumedly gathered his clothes. When he showed up at Axel's shoulder, he looked pissed off beyond all rational thought, and he shoved Axel out of the way to grab Sora by the collar and yell, "You _followed _me!"

Sora meekly tried to blend in with the wall. "I'm sorry."

"I can't _believe_ you! Just what the hell did you think you were doing?"

"Protecting you?" Sora offered, wincing at how pathetic that sounded. By the way Roxas was nearly lifting him off the ground by his shirt, it didn't really seemed like he needed that much protection anymore. But Axel had seemed so _strong_, and Sora didn't like the idea of Roxas dating older boys…

"I don't need your protection," the blond boy hissed. "What I _need_ is _privacy_."

"I was worried about you." Frowning, Sora pried Roxas's hand away from his shirt and continued, "What was I supposed to do, just turn the other way while my brother was skulking around with people I don't know every night?"

"Half-brother," Roxas corrected harshly.

Sora's face faltered. "I was just trying to help…"

"Roxas," Axel interrupted with a cool hand on either boy's shoulder, keeping them apart. "Stop giving your brother such a hard time. It's not his fault."

"Like hell it isn't," Roxas muttered, but he didn't put up much of a fight; he merely adjusted his hood and moodily looked off to the side.

Axel nipped the side of his jaw. "Just listen to his apology, will ya?"

Rubbing the spot Axel had touched, Roxas turned his stormy gaze to Sora and said, "Okay, fine. Talk."

"Um." Sora spread his hands innocently. "I'm really, really sorry and it will never happen ever again?"

Roxas snorted. "Yeah, whatever. It's fine. Is there anything else you'd like to say?"

Sora didn't say anything. He just looked back and forth between Axel and Roxas, taking in their disheveled appearances, particularly at a bruise forming on Roxas's neck and the ruffled state of his hair and clothing.

"Well?" Roxas snapped when the silence had stretched too long.

Sora felt a smile growing on his face as his eyes finally found Axel and Roxas's hands joined between them. He looked pointedly at Roxas and asked, "Just friends, huh?

-

**A/N**: For the record, Axel is _not_ thirty. :D


	3. Between a Rock and a Hard Place

**Chapter Three  
****Between a Rock and a Hard Place**

Axel lead the way back into Seventh Heaven. The bartender looked up, a pretty woman with long brown hair and sideswept bangs covering her right eye. The other eye was pale claret, and it watched Axel eagerly, waiting for an explanation. Upon receiving none, she inquired, "Back so soon?"

"Something like that," Axel mused. "Roxas got hungry."

Her eyes fell upon the blond who met her gaze for a moment before sitting down in a booth. Sora followed suit, sitting across from Roxas so Axel could sit next to his… _Boyfriend, _Sora thought awkwardly. _My brother's boyfriend_.

Axel slid into the booth, carrying a set of menus, and handed one to Sora. "Get whatever you want, it's on me," he said with a toothy grin. Sora nodded timidly and buried his head in the folded plastic menu.

"So, who called, anyway?" Roxas asked a minute later, kicking him playfully to get his attention. Sora looked up in confusion before remembering Riku's flashing picture on his cellphone earlier.

"Oh _crap, _it was _Riku!"_

Axel smirked as he propped one elbow up on the table, his knuckles resting gently against his face. "Riku? Is that your boyfriend from other night?"

"He is _not _my boyfriend!" Sora insisted, tone verging on angry. That was a bit of a touchy subject at the moment. "He's… he's just my friend!"

Roxas arched a brow as he drummed his fingers on the wooden table. "You seem a little flustered," he said sympathetically, then turned and gave Axel a dirty look. Axel raised his hands defensively and shook his head. "You remember the conversation we had earlier, right?" Roxas warned.

"Yeah, yeah," Axel mumbled as he put on his best pouty face and leaned away from Roxas. "No teasing your brother, or his friends, or—"

"—or that's it," Roxas interjected as he smashed his bent elbow into Axel's ribs. Axel groaned inwardly as Sora blinked, eyes thoroughly confused. "So?" Roxas asked intently as he gave an obviously fake smile, his gaze jumping between Sora and Axel.

"Something happened with Riku…" Sora trailed off softly as he focused his attention on the salt shaker sitting to the left of Roxas. It appeared that the top was only half screwed on; he would have to remember to tell Roxas about that before the blond put salt on his food.

"Wanna talk about it?" Roxas pressed, eyes curious. Sora shrugged. "C'mon, I _know _you wanna talk about it," he said with a goofy grin. When Sora didn't smile, Roxas crossed his eyes and stuck out his tongue, finally eliciting a giggle from the brunet. "That's better," he said as he uncrossed his eyes.

"Riku's gay," Sora blurted. Neither Roxas nor Axel seemed the least bit surprised by Sora's blunt outburst. "Like, _really _gay," he added. "And… and… he likes me."

Sora had expected more yelling and shouting and pointing – someone standing dramatically and maybe even fainting. He'd at least expected _something_. But Roxas and Axel just stared, seemingly waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"… That it?" Axel asked before yawning. "That's _all?"_

"Axel," Roxas hissed as he elbowed the redhead for the second time in five minutes. He turned his attention back to Sora and smiled gently at his younger half-brother. "Okay, so he likes you. You don't care that _I'm _gay; do you care that _he's _gay?"

Before Sora could answer, his phone rang. Once again the oldschool Batman theme played and Sora nearly jumped out of his seat. "Crap!" He dug the phone out of his pocket and stared at the picture, trying to decide what he could use as an acceptable excuse for not answering his phone.

"You gonna answer that?" Axel probed, leaning across the table and pointing at Sora's phone. Sora nodded fervently and went to flip open his phone when he accidentally bumped the ignore button on the side. "Well, I guess not," Axel said with a lopsided grin, sinking back into his seat.

Sora stared at the phone, horrified. He had not only missed Riku's first call but he had just ignored the second. He was a horrible person, of that he was sure. _I'm going to hell, _he thought, aghast at his predicament. A second later the phone chirped with a trio of birds announcing that he had a voicemail.

"Oh!" he exclaimed as he held down a button to listen to Riku's voicemail. A second later a female voice announced he had one message from Riku two minutes ago.

"… I _know _you're ignoring me because it only rang twice," Riku's voice said, devoid of all emotion. "But, uh, that's okay. I was just making sure you were alright. And… stuff. Just, um, call me back later. Bye."

"Well?" Roxas asked as Sora hung up his phone dejectedly. "What'd he say?"

"That he knows I'm ignoring him and I'm going to hell," he responded sullenly. "And God hates me, too."

Axel chuckled as he scratched the back of his head. "Why don't you just call him and invite him up here for a snack? Food fixes all human problems," he said matter-of-factly. Roxas made a noise of annoyance and smacked him on the arm, but Sora didn't even notice as they began bickering. He was currently enthralled with the missed call log on his phone; Riku's number glared at him, mocking him.

_You're a big chicken and you can't call me because you're afraid, _it teased.

Sora glared back before closing the phone. "You can't trick _me _with your reverse psychology!"

"Um," Roxas said, hand poised above his head, obviously frozen in its downward trajectory to hit Axel again. "Reverse psychology?"

Axel was staring at him as well. "Who are you talking to?"

"My phone," Sora grumbled with a little glare. "It's trying to swindle me again."

"…Swindle?" Roxas questioned as Axel asked simultaneously, "_Again_?"

"My phone and I have a very rocky relationship," the brunet said defensively. "It's complicated."

Arching an eyebrow, Roxas laughed and said, "You _know_ you're crazy, right?"

"Yep."

_And if I'm crazy, then it's okay to do crazy suicidal things like call Riku when I've already missed two of his calls_.

Steeling himself, he flipped open his phone again and hit Riku's number on speed dial, listening to the mellow-toned message of, _Please enjoy the music while your party is reached_, followed by the uplifting beats of Panic! At the Disco. Which was incredibly out of place, in Sora's opinion. Didn't they know this was an _emergency_?

"Hello?" Riku's soft voice answered after a few seconds.

"Hey, Riku," Sora began awkwardly. "Um. It's me, Sora."

"…Yeah, I know." Sora could hear the sound of something shifting in the background. "How'd your plan go?"

"Er." Sora stared across the table where Roxas and Axel were seated. The redhead was making grandoise gestures while he mouthed, _Invite him to dinner!_ Sora coughed and said, "I'm not sure, actually."

"That's too bad," Riku murmured into the phone. He still sounded muted, even for Riku, and Sora was starting to worry.

"Yeah. Hey, listen," he said, unsuccessfuly trying to bat Axel away as he leaned across the table and continued mouthing his message, "do you want to get dinner with me tonight?"

"…Um."

At Riku's awkward hesitation, Sora realized what his invitation had sounded like, and he squeaked and rushed to do damage control. "I mean with _us_! With me and Roxas and Axel and all of _us_! We're hungry and we're eating and there's gonna be food and, uh, yeah. You should come," he finished lamely.

"Okay," Riku agreed, sounding for a second like the sarcastically amused Riku that Sora was used to.

"Great," Sora crowed. "Okay, I'll see you soon! Bye!" And he flipped the phone shut, feeling rather proud of himself for not only achieving his goal but relieving the tension between them.

Less than five seconds later, the Batman theme rang out as Riku called back. Sora looked at it quizically before answering. "Um, hello?"

"You didn't tell me where you were eating," Riku said flatly.

"Oh," Sora laughed nervously. "Yeah, I guess that's kinda important. We're at Seventh Heaven."

"Okay. I'll be there in ten minutes."

"Cool," Sora said, mentally banging his head on the table. He was such an idiot sometimes. "I'll see you then."

"Bye, Sora."

* * *

As promised, Riku showed up ten minutes later in flip-flops and pajamas. He looked sleepy, bleary-eyed and tousel-haired, and his sleep-wear consisted of plain charcoal-colored pants and a worn white henley with the first three buttons undone.

He waved when he saw the group, locking onto Sora's gaze and offering a small, hesitant smile. Sora grinned back, relieved that Riku wasn't being awkward and avoiding him. He scooted over in the booth to make room for his best friend to sit down.

"Hello again," Axel greeted brightly as the silver-haired boy sat down. Riku shot him an odd look before recognition registered in his eyes and his expression turned neutral.

"Hey," he said, obviously not knowing how to respond. He glanced at Sora, then at Roxas, then back to Axel before he finally decided Axel hadn't turned out to be the creepy pedophile Sora had thought him to be. "How are you?"

"Pretty good, aside from a certain psycho brunet."

"Hey!" Sora yelled indignantly and nudged Riku with his shoulder. "Stand up for me!"

"I would if it weren't true," Riku joked, dodging Sora's poorly-aimed punch out of habit. "Face it: you just spent the entire night stalking your own _brother_. I'm not supposed to take that as psychotic?"

Sora pouted and slid down in his seat. "I'm not psycho," he muttered.

"Of course not," Roxas said and rolled his eyes. He could see Axel open his mouth and the blond squeezed Axel's thigh before he could say anything obnoxious or offensive. Axel just grinned.

"Wow," Riku noted from across the table as he observed the look that passed between the couple. "So Sora was right. You guys really _are_ dating."

"You _told_ him?" Roxas yelled, pinning Sora with a fierce look.

"Uh." Shrinking back against the booth seat cushion, Sora shrugged and tried to look innocent. "Axel did it first, remember? Riku was with me when he told us here last night!"

"_Axel_!" Roxas's rage was suddenly renewed. "That's right, I forgot! What the _hell_ were you doing, telling them all that shit without my permission?"

Groaning, Axel slumped with his chin on his fist, braced against the table. "Roxas, we just argued about this an _hour_ ago, remember?" And then his expression suddenly turned mischievous as he added, "Right before I pinned you in the alley?"

Roxas blushed. "Oh, yeah." He grinned nervously, eyes fixated on the menu that was still sitting before them. "So, uh, who's hungry?" he asked in a feeble attempt to change the subject, placing his bet on Sora's bottomless pit of a stomach.

"Ooh, I want the smothered cheese fries!" Sora announced, having obviously looked over the menu. Riku laughed quietly to himself as he reached out, fingertips sliding the menu toward himself.

"I'll get the, uh…" he trailed off as he noticed a waitress heading in their direction and ran his eyes over the menu briefly.

"Sorry for the wait," the waitress apologized, drying her hands on her black apron. She smiled softly and nodded at Axel and Roxas. "What'll it be?"

"Me and Roxas'll share the sampler platter, and can we get a side of ranch and honey mustard?" Axel asked, smiling at the girl. "Oh, and lemme get a rum and coke with that, too."

She nodded, then turned to Riku and Sora. "And you two?"

"I want the—"

Riku cut Sora off and finished, "He wants the smothered cheese fries with a side of ranch, and I'll have the scrambled eggs and an English muffin." He paused, then threw in, "And coffee. Black, please."

"Alrighty, then," the waitress said, storing the information away in her head. "I'll be back with those in a few minutes. Anything to drink, or just water for you guys?"

"Pepsi or Coke, whichever you have," Sora said, eyes lingering on Riku for a brief second.

"Just water," Roxas tossed in, also watching Riku.

"Okay," the waitress said cheerfully before practically skipping away.

Sora wrung his hands tensely, keeping his eyes averted from Riku's aqua gaze. Although he was used to Riku ordering for him – which was usually Riku's attempt to deter Sora from ordering everything on the menu – it felt different this time. No, it felt _awkward._

Roxas lifted the uneasy silence with a forced hearty laugh and a slap of his hand to the table. "So _anyway, _me and Axel were gonna head back to his place after this. You guys wanna come?"

"Sure," Riku said with a nod of his head. "Is it far?"

"Nope, a few minutes away."

Sora caught Roxas's attention and sent a psychic SOS: _He ordered for me._

With a tight lipped smile, Roxas seemed to reply: _Oh, trust me, I caught that._

A heavy sigh escaped Sora's lips and Riku touched his shoulder lightly. "Something wrong?" he questioned, keeping his voice low enough that only Sora could hear him. "I'm sorry, am I making you uncomfortable? I can just leave if you want."

"No, no," Sora insisted timidly, shaking his head and mustering up the nerve to grant Riku a warm smile. "I'm just… uh…"

"Awkward," Riku finished before looking away, removing his hand from the brunet's shoulder. "No, it's okay. I get it."

He stood up to leave, Sora assumed, and Axel and Roxas shot Sora a curious look as if to ask: _What happened _now

"Don't leave!" Sora all but yelped, grabbing hold of the back of Riku's shirt. Riku stopped and slowly turned back around, frowning slightly. "I'm sorry, really! I don't _want _you to leave."

"I'm gonna take a stab in the dark here and say that _they," _he said, motioning to Roxas and Axel, "already know. Since you're pretty bad at keeping your mouth closed. Which is fine, it's just… I don't _want _you to feel weird, since, you know… you're my best friend."

"You're _my _best friend too! I just…" Sora sighed heavily and shook his head, still holding onto Riku's shirt. "I've just gotta get used to it, is all."

"Used to it?" Riku asked, voice growing tired and irritated. "Do you know how _hard _it is being around you? I mean… I'm freaking retardedly taken with you, okay? It's not something you get _used to, _Sora!"

Roxas and Axel exchanged uneasy glances. "Should we say something?" Axel whispered.

_"Hell _to the no!" Roxas hissed.

"I just… I had no idea," Sora mumbled, lowered his gaze. "C'mon, Riku, don't be _mad."_

"I'm not _mad," _Riku insisted as he ripped his shirt away from Sora. "I just… sometimes you're so _dense_!"

Sora bit his lip as he pressed his pointer fingers together under the table. "Don't be _mad _at me," he whined as sweetly as possible. Riku huffed loudly and folded his arms over his chest in aggravation. "I _know _you're mad at me, okay? I'm… I dunno. I'm doing my best. I called you back!" he said triumphantly as he lifted his gaze to meet Riku's seriously pissed off eyes.

"Sora, you're my best friend. And I don't want this to ruin us, okay? I'm doing my best to be the same Riku as before. My _feelings _toward you shouldn't change that."

"I know, I know," Sora said, looking up at Riku pleadingly. "I'm sorry, I'm not trying to make things tense or awkward. Just… sit back down, okay? I won't be weird anymore. I promise."

"I highly doubt that," Riku scoffed, but he sat back down anyway. As if on cue, the waitress appeared with their drinks, silently setting them down before their proper patrons and walking away as quickly as possible.

Roxas felt the need to clear the air, but Axel beat him to it. "So, we're all good, eh?"

"Along those lines," Riku muttered as he raised his coffee to his lips. Much to his, dismay the coffee was filled to the brim and a significant amount landed in his lap before it could reach his mouth. He cursed himself mentally for not sipping it while it was on the table and leaned over Sora to grab a handful of napkins.

Sora sat back, still as could be, as Riku brushed against him. As Riku dabbed at his pants, Sora tried to lighten the mood. "Did someone have an accident?"

"I did _not _pee myself," Riku spat. "The warm liquid on my pants is _coffee_, not pee."

After an awkward moment of utter silence, all four burst into a fit of laughter. "Holy shit_," _Axel squawked, wiping his eyes with the back of his hands, "that was hilarious."

"It wasn't _that _funny," Riku insisted as he tried to hold back the building laughter in his gut. "C'mon."

"Sure, Riku," Roxas said with a grin, "not funny at _all."_

Sora smiled contently as they joked about Riku's mishap until their food came. Sora found himself engulfed in ecstasy as he nearly inhaled his smothered cheese fries in mere minutes, much to Axel's surprise. "Hungry much?" the redhead asked with a quirky grin.

"I _love _food," Sora said as he wiped cheese from the corner of his mouth.

"Obviously," Axel mused as Roxas dipped a chicken finger into the ranch. "And I thought _Roxas _was bad."

"Hey!" Roxas barked as he shot Axel an annoyed yet equally amused look. "I do _not _inhale food like Sora does. I simply enjoy the delicacies of life, one entrée at a time."

Axel put his arm around Roxas and pulled the smaller boy in for a tight hug. "Sure you do, kiddo."

"So, uh, how long have you guys been together?" Riku asked as he very carefully sipped at his coffee.

"Three years, just about," Axel answered.

Sora grinned to himself at the tender smile Axel and Roxas exchanged. Even though he found Axel a little creepy, slightly pedophilic, and downright _odd, _Roxas seemed happy and that was all that mattered in the end.

* * *

**A/N**: Whenever we see someone who has added us to their favorites list or story alert and didn't review, ConfessYourSins gets mad and starts punching the wall. A lot. And she is scary. And it scares _me_. So you should review. That said, she's really an honest and nice and sweet person... when she's not destroying people.

But we still love all of you who reviewed, so we hope you enjoy this chapter. :D


	4. Doom and Gloom

**Chapter Four  
Doom and Gloom**

Axel's place reminded Sora of a basement, only above ground. It was a single room apartment on the ground floor of what Sora had orignally thought was a warehouse. It was poorly furnished, with a card table, metal fold out chairs, a ratty old couch that Sora was just slightly terrified of, and a ridiculously old looking television across from the couch. Somewhere between noticing the oddly colored stains and multiple cigarette burn holes in said terrifying couch he deemed it unsafe and off-limits. In addition to that, Axel's apartment also seemed to lack any windows which Sora found slightly odd.

"Sorry it's a little, uh…" Axel trailed off and laughed heartily. "Yeah."

"It's okay," Sora said cheerfully, grabbing one of the chairs propped against the wall and setting it up just to the left of the television. He sat down and Riku pulled up a chair next to him as Axel and Roxas took a seat beside each other on the couch. Sora resisted the strong urge to cringe and scream: Danger Will Robinson, danger!

"So what do you do for a living, Axel?" Riku asked, breaking Sora's concentration on sending Roxas a telepathic message in regards to the couch.

"Uhh…"

"If he told you he'd have to kill you," Roxas joked uneasily, glancing between Sora and Riku. Roxas breathed a sigh of relief as Riku accepted the answer.

Sora found a sudden interest in studying Axel's television, which he was almost positive was older than both he and Riku combined; it actually had _knobs _to change the channel, and Sora was sure that it lacked a remote control of any kind. Plus, there was that really annoying crack in the top left corner that would have driven him _nuts, _even though it wasn't all that big.

He watched Roxas's reflection in the television for a moment, then frowned. Axel wasn't sitting on the couch anymore… He turned to his left to search for where Axel had disappeared to, then realized that the redhead was still sitting next to Roxas. His gaze shifted back to the television, where there was still no Axel, and gasped.

"What the _hell?" _he exclaimed as he jumped out of his seat to kneel in front of the television.

Axel, Roxas, and Riku exchanged confused glances as Sora screamed at the TV. "Are you okay?" Riku asked as he stood up, eyebrows furrowing.

"He doesn't have a _reflection!" _Sora shouted loudly as he pointed accusingly at the blank screen.

Riku's eyes darted to Roxas just as a look of pure terror enveloped his face. "Oh _shit,"_ the blond swore.

Axel seemed considerably less concerned than his partner. "Oh well," he said with a cheeky grin, leaning back casually in his seat. "It was bound to come out sooner or later."

"You fucktard," Roxas growled and punched the redhead solidly in the shoulder. "You should have thought of this _before_ you sat down!"

Axel just shrugged. "What's the big deal?" he asked, gesturing to Riku and Sora, who still looked shocked with horror. "They don't seem to care _that_ much."

"Axel," the blond hissed acidically, "they look_ traumatized."_

"So did you at first," he pointed out calmly. "They'll get over it eventually."

"Get over _what?" _Riku asked, interrupting their conversation.

"Me. Being a vampire," Axel said matter-of-factly. "I mean, it's not _that _weird."

Sora stood up and turned his accusing finger to point at Axel. "You're a _vampire _and you're dating my _brother!"_

"Sora, _relax," _Axel said in a soothing voice. "I'm not a _bad _vampire."

"It doesn't _matter!"_

Riku shook his head and grabbed Sora by the arm, dragging him down into the chair. "Sora, breathe," he instructed. Sora took a deep breath and tried not to attack Axel, who he had immediately come to dislike, once again.

"I can't believe this is happening," Roxas muttered under his breath as he shook his head.

"Oh _whatever," _Axel said as he nudged Roxas lovingly. "No more secrets, right? I mean, he _is _your brother after all."

"I _hate _you!" Roxas whined as he crossed his arms with a disgruntled look. "You _suck."_

"I do not."

"Do _too."_

"Do _not," _Axel insisted defiantly before leaning over Roxas and placing a chaste kiss on the blond's cheek. "You _love _me."

All conversation and shock was halted as Axel dropped the 'L' bomb. "I-I… shut _up!" _Roxas all but shrieked as he pushed the redhead violently away from him and positioned himself at the far end of the couch. Axel, unfazed, shrugged as he turned his attention back to Sora who was staring blankly in their direction.

"You okay there?" he asked, concern in his voice. "Uh, any questions?"

"You… you're… I…" Sora shook his head as he tried to form a complete sentence. He seemed to be lacking all brain power as his mind combusted from pure sensory overload. _He's a freaking _vampire_, _repeated itself over and over in his mind and no matter how many ways he tried to twist it, he still couldn't make heads or tails of it.

Riku's hand on his shoulder shattered his daze and their eyes met, Riku's full of worry for Sora's lack of conversation. "Hey, you alright?"

"Is this not freaking the _crap _out of you?" he asked as calmly as he could.

"It is, but I'm more worried about you than that," he replied.

"Oh." Sora plastered a docile smile onto his face. "I'm okay," he said in a voice verging on psychotic. "I'm totally fine. Really."

Riku laughed nervously, a small twitch forming at the corner of his mouth. "Sora… don't freak out on me. _Please _don't freak out on me."

"I'm not freaking out," he half-sang as his smile grew into a grin. "I am _so _fine right now. Okay, good, well, astoundingly _purr-fect."_

"He's gonna freak," Roxas mumbled before Sora hit the floor with his arms wrapped around himself. He closed his eyes tightly and Riku stared before getting down on the floor with him and pulling the smaller boy against his chest.

"Dammit," he cursed as Sora muttered to himself incomprehensibly. "Sora, _Sora, _talk to me. _Talk _to me, dammit."

"I wanna go home I wanna go home I _wanna go home," _he whined as he tried to get Riku to let go of himself. "Take me_ home!"_

"Here we go again," Roxas said as he slid off the couch and crawled over to Riku and Sora on his knees. He grabbed Sora's face with both his hands, forcing Sora to open his eyes and look at him. "Sora, you're okay. Shit, it's _me. _Okay? Just breathe, stop freaking out, and we can just _talk _about it, okay?"

"Is he okay?" Axel asked, standing up and peering at Sora from what he considered a safe distance. "He isn't gonna like… throw holy water on me or something crazy like that, right? Because that shit _hurts."_

"No," Roxas growled as he shot Axel a dirty look. "Sometimes he just gets freaked out by stuff is all. He'll be fine in a few minutes, as soon as his brain pieces itself back together again."

Axel nodded his head and drifted off into the kitchen. "So, is anyone thirsty?"

He received no response as Riku and Roxas focused all their attention on calming Sora down. After a few long minutes Sora was finally coherent and calmly sitting in Riku's lap, warm arms wrapped around the brunet as Riku held him close– partially for his own benefit but mainly to prevent Sora from wildly and rabidly attacking Axel.

"You okay now?" Riku whispered into Sora's ear. "I don't want you to go all Buffy on me."

"I would be Angel," Sora grumbled. "'Cause I'm a _boy."_

"Of _course _you would," Riku agreed with a small grin on his face. "Because you're a bad ass, right?"

"Hell to the yes," Sora responded with a slight nod of his head.

"But Angel's a vampire..." Axel trailed off with his logical reasoning , coming to the realization after a seriously dirty and _not _in the perverted sense glare from Roxas, that Sora didn't need the fact that Angel was indeed a vampire pointed out to him during his moments of temporary insanity. Roxas kindly refrained from muttering obscenities under his breath, even though Axel knew it was exactly what his favorite blond was thinking.

"He good?" Axel asked, ignoring Roxas's death glares as he sauntered over to the rest of the group."Hey there," he said with an easy smile as he got down on one knee in front of Sora. "I didn't mean to freak you out."

"Umm, it's okay?" Sora said uncertainly.

"Do you have any questions? Because I've got answers!"

Sora narrowed his eyes. "What are your intentions toward my brother?"

Axel looked surprised. "With all the vampire questions you could have asked me, you want to know my intentions toward _Roxas_?"

Sora tilted his chin defiantly upward, the back of his head resting against Riku's shoulder. "Yeah."

Axel heaved an almost exasperated sigh and rolled his eyes to the ceiling. "Isn't it _obvious_?"

"Uh. No?"

Sparing a glance at Roxas, who was still sitting adjacent to Riku and Sora, Axel rubbed the back of his head and said, "Can we do this with Roxas out of the room?"

"No way," Roxas said, sitting up straighter. "I want to hear this too."

"Motherfucker," Axel muttered to himself. "Okay, well, uh. I guess I'm kinda serious about him."

"You _guess_?" Roxas growled.

"Are you actually going to make me _say_ it?"

"_Yes_," Roxas and Sora said in unison. Riku merely looked amused.

"Fine," the redhead huffed, standing to cross his arms awkwardly and cock his hips to the side. "I'm in love with Roxas and I want to marry him and have his half-vampire babies. Are you happy now?"

"Sarcasm doesn't count," Sora pointed out.

"Who said that was sarcastic?" Looking less embarrassed now that he'd actually said it, Axel grinned and raised his eyebrows. "What do _you_ know about vampire reproductive systems?"

"That they don't exist," Roxas answered. "Stop bullshitting him and give me a straight answer."

"Roxas," Axel said, softening minutely, "come on, you know how I feel. Don't make me do this in front of other people."

Apparently, that was enough for Sora, because he uncurled from Riku's embrace and unsteadily made his way to his feet to face Axel. "Okay, now that _that's_ out of the way, how do you _eat_?"

"I don't eat."

Sora's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. "Oh, you poor creature!"

"I don't miss it that much," Axel said with a sharp smile. "Feeding is much better."

Sora made a face. "Oookay, you just went from sympathy-worthy to creeptastic."

"Whatever," Roxas interrupted, rising from his place on the floor to stand next to Axel. "Now that everyone knows about you, I can finally ask what the fuck you were talking to Cloud about yesterday."

"How do you know about that?" Axel asked, blinking.

Roxas jerked a thumb over his shoulder to indicate Sora. "He told me."

Axel sent Sora a little glare, to which the brunet squeaked and sat back down beside Riku. "I can't tell you that," said the redhead.

"Like hell you can't."

"It's classified information," Axel insisted. "Cloud's here on official business."

"Like I have anyone to tell," Roxas drawled. "What am I going to say? 'My vampire boyfriend said there's an infestation of zombies in the area, so you should probably stay inside for the next week or so while the secret supernatural military exterminates them.' Who the hell's going to believe _that—_er, Axel, what are you _doing_?"

In the middle of Roxas's speech, Axel had grabbed him by both shoulders and was staring at him with a grimly serious expression. "Where did you hear that?" he demanded.

"Axel, you're kind of hurting me," Roxas grunted. "What's your problem?"

"Who told you about the infestation?" Axel growled.

"I was making it up," Roxas explained, glaring. "You know, like a joke. Haha, funny, that sort of thing?"

"Seriously?"

"Seriously," Roxas echoed. "Now let me go, I'm going to have bruises!"

"You already have bruises," Axel leered, seeming less concerned now, and released him giving him a brief affectionate squeeze. "But I guess the cat's outta the bag now. There really is a zombie problem in town, so, uh, yeah. Cloud's on it, but you guys should still be careful."

"And you weren't going to _tell_ me?" Roxas yelled.

"I was gonna protect you," Axel said defensively.

"During the day?" Roxas pressed.

"We're working on that."

"Whatever," Roxas muttered dismissively and flung himself onto the couch. "This day has been such shit. Let's do something fun before I die."

"Emo much?" Axel joked as he sat down beside the blond, slinging his arm over his shoulders. He pulled him closer and nuzzled his hair. "Come on, cheer up. I'm your knight in shining armor!"

"Knight my ass," Roxas mumbled, but allowed himself to be pulled closer until Axel responded,

"Let me just get out my sword," and grinned predatorially.

Riku chuckled while Sora looked confused. "What?" he asked, craning his neck to peer at the silver-haired boy. "I don't get it!"

"There's nothing to get," Roxas hissed and jerked himself away from his boyfriend. "Axel is just being a dick." He gave Axel a scathing glare. "And don't even _think_ about touching that one."

Laughing, Axel held up his hands in self-preservation. "The thought never even crossed my mind."

Mollified, Roxas scooted back over to him and leaned back against the taller boy, allowing himself to rest his head on Axel's shoulder. "Good."

And then, under his breath, Axel couldn't help but mutter, "Because if I were being a dick, I'd be in you."

"_Axel_!" Roxas screeched and punched him squarely in the jaw. "Fucking behave for once!"

"He's a _vampire_," Sora chimed into the conversation. "Why do you keep punching him? Does it even hurt him?"

"Oh, fuck no," Axel said. "But it's cute to watch him try."

"If you don't stop," Roxas said in a warning tone, "I will start wearing a cross around my neck."

"Oh, whatever." Axel waved off the threat, but he didn't push the subject. "So can we finally stop sneaking around now, or what? No more meeting in skeevy bars?"

"Where the hell else would we meet?" Roxas asked with raised eyebrows. "Seventh Heaven is the only supernatural-friendly establishment in the entire town."

"Ohhh." A light bulb suddenly went off in Sora's head. "So _that's_ why you never wanted me to go there."

Roxas rolled his eyes. "Well, _duh_."

"Most of the people there are pretty friendly," Axel said, idly toying with a tuft of Roxas's hair. "A bit strange, but fun to talk to. It's… enlightening, to say the least."

"Not to be a downer, but shouldn't we be slightly more concerned about the zombies?" Riku suddenly entered the conversation. "I mean, that seems at least mildly important, in my opinion."

"Cloud's got it covered," Axel told him confidently.

"He's only one person," Riku pointed out.

"_And_ he can only go out at night," Roxas added. "I'm with Riku. Why are we just sitting around?"

"I _said_ we're _working_ on it."

"Cloud's a vampire too?" Sora asked in surprise.

"No, he's just allergic to sunlight," Axel muttered sarcastically. "Of course he's a vampire, couldn't you tell?"

"Uhh, not really." Sora scratched the tip of his nose. "He just looked kinda scary, is all."

"Well, you've got that part right. Cloud's good at what he does, so you don't have to worry about the—" He was interrupted by the sound of scratching and banging at the front door, and he was distracted for a few moments before finishing uncertainly, "Zombies…"

-

**A/N: **Confess here, and oddly enough I have decided not to abandon this story OR destroy this account. So yes, you may worship and review . Let me know if this was a good idea O.o or a bad one?? Anyway, main purpose here is to have everyone spam my former partner in crime because I would prefer to finish writing this story with her even if she is a little... yanno. Also to get her to come to my baby bros 18th bday party . So email her ... _reechan at hotmail dot com_

I don't think she'll be too happy with me for giving out her email, but I don't care. Put REMO as the subject and tell her why she should finish the story. We only have a few chapters more written, so if you wanna see the conclusion, EMAIL HER. Yep, I am a devious little writer, but I have learned the hard way that if you want to get your way, you have to freaking earn it. So, lovely darling reviewers, let's finish this story and I hope you enjoyed!!


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